Two tricks
by Patches the barking kitty
Summary: The horsemen are lying low when Dylan gives them a call at three am. "we have a problem, and by we... I mostly mean Daniel." Due to an unfortunate accident that kills his mother, Danny finds himself the guardian of his teen prodigy sister and brother he didn't know existed.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

**Daniel POV:**

_What the hell? _I heard my phone buzz and glanced t the clock. At three in the morning the other Horsemen should have been asleep, and if they needed something they would have just come to my room. That left one option: Dylan.

I groaned and sat up. "Yes?"

"Get up. I'm on my way to the house."

"What? Why?" I Asked him.

"There's been… an accident… I'll explain when I get there. And wake up the other Horsemen."

He hung up and I groaned. Grabbing a clean shirt and pants I Changed before waking up Jack, Merritt and Henley.

"What is it?" Jack said sleepily as he stumbled out of his room. They were all still in their pajamas.

Dylan's on his way here. He said there was an accident." I held up my hand to stop Henley and Jack's questions. "And before you ask he didn't say what the accident was."

"This had better be damn important." Merritt said.

"He sounded urgent on the phone." I assured him.

We all assembled in the living room. Merritt sat down in his favorite lazy boy, Henley and I sat across from each other at the card table and Jack pretty much fell back asleep on the couch.

We saw a car pull up and I went over to open the door. Dylan came in and Merritt threw his book at Jack to wake him up. He sat up when he saw Dylan was there. "What's going on Dylan?"

"Well we have a slight problem, and by we I mostly mean Daniel, but you are all affected by it as well." He handed me a packet of papers before I sat back down and I started leafing through the papers as he continued. "Daniel… I'm sorry, those papers, are your mother's will…"

I had gotten through the first few lines when he said that. I knew what it was. "What happened?" I said, trying to stay calm.

"There was a car accident…" He tried to break the news to me gently. "Your mother was dead on impact, she didn't suffer."

"Where's Fey?" I said.

"Your sister is fine." He said. "She's on her way here, with another agent."

"Here?" Henley said. "Why?"

"Daniel if you would be so kind as to flip to page five."

I did what Dylan said and skimmed the page until I found what pertained to my sister. Then I reread, and I reread again, and again, until I had to accept what I read. "Why would she name me the guardian of my sister? A-and who is this Alexander she says is her son? My mom only had two kids, Me and Freya."

"Well… that's the tricky part… or parts… You left your mom and sister six years ago, after your father died, correct?"

"Yeah… are you saying… my mom was _pregnant_ when my dad died!?"

"Yes… she found out a month or so after you left… or that s what Freya told me. He's with your sister, on his way here as well."

"W- Why am I the guardian?" I was starting to panic. "I haven't seen Fey in six years, I've never met this, Alexander kid! How am I supposed to take care of kids?"

Jack was looking at me wide eyed as I panicked, Merritt was observing from the corner, probably trying to piece together the full story. Henley put a hand on my arm to try and calm me down. I sat back down in the chair I didn't know I'd abandoned.

Dylan held his hands up. "I know you're confused and caught off guard. But Freya hasn't had a break in over a week; Alexander doesn't have anyone to look up to at the moment. They need you, Daniel."

I buried my face in my hands and took a few breaths.

"Um…" Jack looked between Dylan and myself. "I get that Daniel was named these kids guardian, but is The Eye really going to let them live with us? They've gone to such extremes to keep themselves secret… I mean…" Jack thought about how to word his next sentence. "You're not going to break up the horsemen are you?" The silence that followed Jack's question. The thought of having to leave the horsemen, leave the life that I had grown to love, It suddenly seemed very real, and it scared me.

"I'm uh… working on that part." Dylan said. "For now, Alexander and Freya beileive the four of you are a performance team recruited by a talent label called they Eye and I am your manager. You have two guest rooms here, for now they will live with you and I will put all my efforts into convincing the eye to let them stay here with you so all of you can continue to work together, but… I can't make promises… I'm sorry."

At that point another sleek FBI style car pulled up the driveway and parked behind Dylan's car. The driver got our and helped a teenage girl out of the passenger seat and started collecting bags from the back. It was Freya, older, taller, longer hair, tanner, more womanly than the eleven year old I'd left, but definitely Fey. She went to the back seat and pulled a small bundle out.

The agent came in with a four decent sized bags and a backpack, and Jack stood up to take him upstairs. "Jack." Dylan said. "Put on a shirt." The kid nodded before leading the agent up to the guest room.

"I'll go help grab bags." Merritt said.

"No need." Dylan said. "That' all they brought." Merritt sat back down and Fey came in the door a second later.

I stood up from where I was sitting and went over to her. She looked up and me and shifted the sleeping boy in her arms to one shoulder and I pulled her into a hug. "I missed you so much Danny." She said, holding me as tightly as she could with one arm.

"I missed you too Fey." She pulled away from me and I saw how tired she looked. "Jeez, when was the last time you slept?"

She raised her eyebrows. "It's been… sporadic at best."

"Alright… let me do introductions and then we can get you to bed." I pointed to my two teammates in the room. "This is Henley Reeves and Merritt Mckinney. Henley, Merritt, this is my sister Freya and uh… I assume, that he's Alexander."

Freya looked at the boy and nodded. "Mama told me he looks like you did… Um… When you were little."

I nodded "Let's get you some sleep." I lead her upstairs and we passed the agent on his way down.

Jack was standing at the top of the stairs. "Hey, I had him put all the bags in the spare room next to mine…" He said more to me than Fey. "I didn't know which one you wanted her in and which one you wanted him in…"

"Thanks Jack. Um… this is my sister Freya… and… um… brother… Alexander. Freya this is Jack Wilder."

"Hi." He said shaking her hand.

"Hi." She said quietly.

"Jack, she needs to sleep."

"Oh, right." Jack stepped to the side and went to join the others downstairs. I lead Freya to the spare room Jack had put their things. She walked in and slid her backpack off one shoulder,

"Alex wake up." She whispered. He mumbled something in his half awake state. "I know buddy, just for a second, I need to take off your coat."

He moaned but when she set him on the bed he stayed sitting up long enough for her to take his backpack and coat off of him. "Okay, you can go back to sleep now." He tilted back and passed out on the bed again. She set to work on his shoes and pushed all the discarded clothes into a corner. She pulled off her own backpack and Jacket and looked at me. "I'm sorry…"

"What? Fey, you didn't do anything." I said sitting down next to her.

"I know you wanted to disappear… we just made it so you can't."

"I don't want to disappear." I said.

"They why didn't you come back?" She said. "I tried to get in contact with you… you were all over the news and people were saying terrible things about you because you stole all that money… but I couldn't find you anywhere… then… All the addresses you put on the cards you sent at Christmas… every one of them were fake. You couldn't send mail without a return address but I went to all of them hoping you would be there. They didn't exist or the person there had never heard of you… so I figured you wanted to disappear."

I didn't know what to say so I avoided the question. "Just get some rest."

She looked at Alexander. "Right." She pulled off her shoes and tucked the kid under the covers. "Oh… we found this…" she pulled a sealed envelope out of the pocket of her jacket. "It was in a lockbox at the bank with all of the valuables and the will."

I took the envelope. "Alright, I'll take care of it, just get some rest, you look like you haven't slept in weeks."

She nodded and crawled back on the bed. "Good night."

"Night Fey."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

**Danny POV:**

I went back downstairs and saw the other horsemen waiting for me. "What's the deal Danny?" Jack asked, "Are they sleeping?"

"Yeah." I said. "The kid never woke up and Fey was out as soon as I left."

"What did your mom say in the letter?"

I looked at Merritt, "Haven't read it yet."

"Do you need me to move into one of the guest rooms?" Henley asked.

"No, I guess the kid should have the room next to mine but Fey should be fine in the one next to Jack."

"Should we put deadbolts on the connecting door?" Merritt asked.

"What, you guys don't trust me?" Jack asked.

"Not with my sister." I said. "What do you guys want to do about the bathroom situation?"

Merritt looked at Jack. "Move your stuff into mine tomorrow, no matter where this goes we'll end up together."

Jack nodded. "So do we put the kids together or the girls together?"

Henley looked at us all like we were stupid. "Put the girls together morons."

"Right." I said. _I hope the kid is potty trained._

"Is that all we need for tonight?" Jack asked.

"Yeah… Go back to bed guys," I motioned to the stairs. "Something tells me we have a long day tomorrow."

Henley and Jack went back upstairs. I sat at the table to read the letter.

"Daniel."

"What Merritt?" I knew I was snapping, I didn't really feel bad about it either.

"Don't call him 'kid', he's your brother, call him by his name."

I didn't say anything as Merritt went back upstairs. Instead I turned my attention back to the letter in my hand.

.

_Danny,_

_If you're reading this it means that I have just given you a giant responsibility. I would like to start by saying I'm sorry. When I found out I was pregnant I thought about trying to find you and tell you, but I did not want you to come back because you felt obligated to. If you came back, I wanted it to be because you wanted to. I hope you have made a good life for yourself, and I am not granting you a burden. I thought about sending Fey and Alex to another family member, but you know how they feel about Fey, and most of them weren't thrilled about me raising Alex on my own either. He will need someone to look up to, and idolize, but who will also keep him in line. You are that person, Danny. Fey will need her big brother back to help her. A few warnings though: Fey's mechanical mind is constantly going. She would lock herself away and tinker all day if we only let her. Make sure she gets up and does something each day. Alex will want to test you. Make sure he knows first that you are in charge and second that you are his friend. I hope you can take care of two of my three most precious treasures. _

_I always have, and always will love you,_

_Mom._

_._

I smiled at the letter as I folded it back up. That was mom all right, no denying it. I just hoped I had the ability to do what she wanted.

**So this chapter is kind of like an extension of the last one, so I'm going to upload 2 this time. **

**~PtbK**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

**Freya POV:**

"Fey." A tiny finger poked my back and I ignored it. "Fey?" a hand tried to shake my shoulder. "Feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey." Two hands shook me. "Fey wake up!" little fingers poked me incessantly. "Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. Fey. FeyFeyFeyFeyFey." The little boy huffed and fell back on the bed. "Feeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" This time he kicked me and it hurt a little more than the others had.

"Don't kick people Alex."

"Yay! You're awake!" He draped himself over my shoulders. "Let's go explore our new house!"

"Buddy I'm still sleepy." I said pulling his pillow over my head.

"But Feeeeyyyyy! We already slept. LET'S PLAY!" When he shouted in my ear I jumped and wound up falling up the bed. I looked up at my brother as he peaked over the side of the bed at me. "Sorry Fey."

"No yelling inside. People are still sleeping." I said holding a finger to my lips.

Alex nodded and mimicked the motion.

_No going back to sleep now._ I untangled myself and stood up. I glanced in the mirror and saw how disheveled I looked. I was in my jeans and t-shirt from the night before and my hair was a mess. "Let me get dressed." I said. I dug through my suitcase with my clothes and pulled out something comfortable. "What do boys never do?" I asked.

"Watch a lady while she changes." He said burying his face in a pillow.

I smiled and changed into black yoga pants and a purple tank top. "Okay, now you." I said grabbing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for him.

"But I want to stay in my PJs!"

"Do you want Danny's room mates to see you disheveled?"

"Yes!" He said. "Just till after breakfast. Please Fey?"

"Are you Dry?" He nodded his head 'yes' and I put the clothes on the bed. "Okay, fine. But after breakfast you come up here and change."

"YES!" He climbed off the bed and I grabbed a pencil off the desk. As we walked downstairs I pulled my hair back and secured it as if I was using chopsticks with the pencil, though it was so long most of it hung down in a ponytail.

When we got to the kitchen I saw Danny, Henley and Merritt there already.

"I didn't expect you to be up this early." Henley said.

Merritt chuckled. "Someone didn't let her sleep."

"This is Alexander, he is a very energetic five year old boy." I said pointing at my brother as he looked up at our older roommates.

"Do you have coco puffs?" He asked.

The three magicians laughed. "Jack won't be happy he has to share his cereal." Danny said. "Here ki- uh… Alexander."

Alex jumped up and down and pulled me over to the counter. "See Fey, I told you they'd have it! Everybody likes coco puffs! Pour me some! Come on!"

"Okay, okay, calm down." I said pouring him a bowel.

"You can go sit down at the table sweetie." Henley said.

Alex ran over and clamored onto a chair. I brought the bowel over to him and he eagerly dug in. "Hey, what do you say?"

"Funk too Fey," He said around a mouthful of cereal, what I thought was a thank you.

"What do you want Fey?" Danny asked me.

"I can just have some toast," I said.

"I'll get it for you." He said. I sat down next to Alex and Henley and Merritt left.

Danny sat down across from me and passed me a plate. "So… how old are you now?" He asked me.

"Sixteen." I said.

"That means the closest one here to your age is Jack." He said. "He's nineteen, but he'll be twenty soon. Even so you're also the closest to his age. Um… your room is the one you were in. there's a connecting door, but we're going to put a deadbolt on it."

"Are we sharing?" I asked motioning to Alex, who was watching intently.

"No his room is next to mine."

We sat in silence for a minute until Alex finished his cereal and pushed his bowel away. "You look like a big me. Are you my daddy?"

Daniel choked on his coffee and looked at Alex, who was staring at him intently. "Um… no, I'm your Brother, Daniel."

"Oh." Alex said. "So you're supposed to take care of me now?"

"Yeah… I guess so."

"Okay, Will you get me a new power ranger?"

Danny blinked surprised at the little boy in front of him. "We'll see." He said. "Maybe after you get settled. _Maybe."_ I finished my toast and picked up the dishes. "Oh, you'll be sharing a bathroom with Henley, so you can go talk to her and I'll get him figured out."

"Alex go get dressed." I said.

"Aw man!" He slumped up the stairs towards the room we'd slept in.

"Is he potty trained?" Danny asked.

"Not at night." I said. "But he's good during the day, in the morning ask him if he's wet or dry and if he's wet he needs to put his clothes in the laundry room and someone has to help him change his sheets."

Danny let out some kind of weird stressed sound and I followed him up the stairs. "Where's Alexander?" Danny asked.

"What?" I looked in the room, his clothes were there, but he wasn't, "Where…" I looked around and saw the connecting door partially open.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Danny and I rushed into the room and saw Jack staring bewildered at my very naked little brother, who was wiggling his fingers saying "Boo! Boo!"

"ALEX!" I yelled.

He turned around and looked at me. "Hi Fey! Hi Daniel! I was getting dressed then I saw this door, and I decided to come play ghost with this guy here!"

"Alex you don't go up to people naked. Put on your clothes."

He pouted and padded his naked butt back to get dressed. Jack looked at Danny. "Why the hell did I wake up with a naked toddler standing over me?"

"He's five, I don't think that makes him a toddler, but I'm sorry about that. We'll put in the deadbolt tomorrow and move him into the room next to mine."

"I shouldn't have sent him up on his own." I said. "Sorry."

Jack looked at me, seeming to notice my being there for the first time. "Oh hey, how did you sleep?"

"Fine." I said.

"Fey! I'm dressed!"

"Come apologize!"

Alex ran back into the room and looked at Jack. "I'm sorry."

I sighed. "For?"

"Playing ghost with you naked." Alex then ran over to Danny. "Big brother! Let's go play with my power rangers!"

"Uh…" Danny let Alex drag him out of the room, "But wouldn't you rather see your new room… or… something else instead?"

"No! Mommy and Fey told me my power rangers came from my big brother! That's you, so you _have _to know how to play with them!"

"But I haven't since I was your age!"

Danny's sentence made Alex stop. Jack and I watched in amusement from his room. "How old_ are_ you?"

Danny breathed out in exasperation. "I'm twenty five, why does it matter?"

"You're _that much_ older than me?" Alex looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head, Jack was trying really hard not to laugh. "But you're my brother. You shouldn't be old enough to have kids! Wait… You don't have kids do you? ARE YOU HIDING A COUSIN SOMEWHERE?"

"What!? NO! I don't have kids! And it doesn't matter how old I am I'm still your brother!"

Alex skipped over the second half of Danny's outburst and went back to the first statement, he looked Danny over suspiciously before asking his next question. "Why don't you have kids? Mommy had you when she was twenty three, I know, I asked."

"Mom was married at twenty three, I'm not!"

"So I don't have a cousin 'cause girls don't want to marry you?"

Jack doubled over and buried his face in a pillow. Danny looked like he was ready to explode. "NO! WOMEN LIKE ME PLETY! I just haven't had one I wanted to marry."

"So I don't have cousins because you don't like girls… OH! I get it! You're one of those boys who likes other boys!" Alex smiled thinking he'd just solved the key to the universe.

"I like girls!"

"Then why don't you find a girl to marry!"

"Because The right one hasn't come yet!"

"What about the pretty red haired lady? You were talking with her. You should ask her to marry you!"

"You don't just ask someone to marry you because they're pretty!"

"Then why do you choose someone to marry?" Alex leaned in towards Danny, suddenly deeply enthralled in whatever he was going to say.

Danny opened and closed his mouth as he tried to figure out what to say. Finally he settled on, "Let's just go play power rangers."

"YES!" Alex grabbed his backpack and followed Danny out the door, I imagined either to his new room or the living space.

Jack finally pulled his head out of the pillow and burst out laughing. "What… just happened?"

"Alex got his way…" I said. "Kind of a norm…"

"But he got… Daniel just… That kid is my hero." He said.

I smiled at him and stepped towards my door. "Well, I'm supposed to talk with Henley, so I'll talk to you later."

**So I'm not sure how people would respond to characters like Fey and Alexander, let me know what you think of them (Flames welcomed… actually I kind of like constructive criticism). So far it's been good but let me know if this should be a long story or just a few short chapters.**

**~PtbK**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

**Henley POV:**

I heard a nock on my door and opened it, seeing Danny's sister. "Hi Freya." I said.

"Hi, Danny said you and I were sharing a bathroom?" She said holding up a bag.

"Right, it's over here." I brought her to the room next to mine and across from the room where she'd be staying. "I cleared off a shelf and a drawer for you. Pads and Tampons are in the bottom left drawer."

"Thanks," She said. "If we run out…"

"It doesn't matter who's doing the shopping for the week, one of us goes and takes care of anything related to that," I said. "No need for the boys to know that business, plus it makes them uncomfortable."

"I don't know why." She said laughing, "They aren't the ones bleeding."

I put a hand on her shoulder, "Men have no tolerance for such a thing, if they went through what we do there would be a lot less people in the world."

She smiled and put away her things; I noticed it was only the essentials, no makeup, no hair products, not even a hair dryer.

"Is that all you brought?"

"Yeah." She said, "I'm not good at… being a girl, would probably be the best way to put it."

I allowed a very happy smirk to spread over my face, "Dear, we are going to have fun together."

She laughed at the notion, "If you're implying what I think you are, people have tried, and I wish you good luck."

"Well, for now do you need any help unpacking?"

"No, we didn't bring to much, All I need is for someone to keep Alex busy, and Danny is doing that."

"Danny's entertaining a kid?" I said in disbelief.

"Yeah." She said. "Alex's backpack had nothing but power rangers in it, so he dragged Danny over to play with those. Well I'm going to go now,"

"Yeah, see you later." I waved.

_Danny is entertaining a five year old?_ I couldn't believe what I'd just heard and left my room to go see if Fey was serious. I checked Danny's room first, but it was empty, Fey was the only one going back and forth between her and Alex's rooms, So I went to the livingroom, and couldn't believe my eyes.

There was Danny, shirt untucked, hair slightly ruffled, shoes off, sitting cross-legged on the floor holding various colored figures in his hands as he and Alex played together. "So are we before or After Tommy turns good?"

"Duh, after. These are Dino-thunder,"

"I thought you said you had Tommy, he's in the mighty morphin ranger team, besides I don't know the newer ones."

"Tommy comes back. Now he's the black one. I don't have all the mighty morphin ones, I'm missing the white ranger so then Tommy had to be bad to play with those ones!"

"You're missing the white one? That one was my favorite, so I took it with me when I left."

"GO GET IT!" Alex exclaimed gleefully.

Danny scrambled to his feet at the loud request and half ran past me up to his room. Alex watched the door until Danny ran back the other way bearing a small white action figure. I couldn't believe my eyes.

**Danny and Alex shall form a bond yet. Meanwhile I guess Fey is sort of shrouded in mystery. Sorry, have to get one thing resolved before we move onto the next. Chap 5 will focus on her and the 'mechanical mind' Danny's mom mentioned in the letter. Any wishes or desires for the story so far? Review or message and I'll see what I can do.**

**~PtbK**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

**Omniscient POV:**

The four horsemen were sitting in the living room on a Sunday morning watching power rangers with Alex. Jack was enthralled, never having seen it before to the young child's horror. Danny was secretly very much enjoying reliving his childhood. Merritt wasn't fooled as he observed the younger men. Henley was sitting quietly, questioning why the bad guys didn't attack the power rangers during their extremely long morphing sequences.

That was when Fey walked in from the garage with a pillowcase jingling at her side. She didn't acknowlage the others just walked up to her room.

Danny and Alex watched their sister go up the stairs then looked at each other.

"Alex… Do you have any idea what might be in there?" Henley asked.

The little boy looked at her and made a face. "Robo guts,"

Jack looked from one brother to the other to try and figure out what Alex meant by 'Robo guts' when Danny stood and followed his sister upstairs.

"Aren't you going to follow him?" Jack asked, after all the kid had been stuck to Danny like glue since he got there the week before.

"No!" Alex said in a terrified voice. "Fey is scary when people tell her not to work!" He hugged a pillow to his chest as if it was a shield and buckled down to finish the episode on the television.

**DANNY POV:**

I didn't bother nocking on Fey's door, I knew she wouldn't hear me even if I did. When I stepped inside I saw her dump the contense of the pillowcase on her bed and start leafing through it. "Fey…"

She Waved me in but didn't take her eyes off the mess in front of her. I stepped over to look at the wires and gears strewn across her blanket.

"Where did you get that?"

She shrugged and gestured West.

"How did you get to the junkyard Fey, It's three miles away…"

She shrugged again and broke her concentration long enough to glare at me before collecting a handful of gears and walking back over to her desk where a metal contraption was awaiting her. I settled on the most likely answer before asking my next question. "Who's keys did you steal?"

"I didn't steal anyone's keys." She assured me.

"Then how the hell did you manage to steal one of the cars?"

She scoffed. And kept working.

"Freya." I warned.

She looked at me. "Danny, I'm a robotics and Engineering child prodigy with extensive knowledge of internal combustion engines… you think I don't know how to hotwire a truck?"

"The Hell Freya! You hotwired Jack's truck?"

"What? It's not like I broke it. And I put all the wires back in place, the thing will run fine."

"That's not the point!"

"Then can you please leave so I can work on this? It's Alex's birthday present and I would rather have it done before Wednesday!"

"No, Fey! What the hell, do you even have your license yet?"

"I have my permit."

"Fey…" I pinched my brow and tried to think of some kind of compromise. "Look, until you get you're license and your own car you are only aloud to go to the junkyard with someone else."

She huffed in annoyance, but then agreed with me. "Fine. That's fair."

"This conversation isn't done Fey, I know it's hard for you to control everything, but-"

"No you don't." She said. "You can control everything,.."

"Clearly not everything." I said. "Look Fey, You need to try and control this. I've seen what happens when you don't."

"That was six years ago… I've gotten better."

I didn't respond, relatively sure that there wasn't a correct response to what she had just said. I left her to what she was making, at least I knew I didn't have to worry about her sneaking out for parts now. That had been my biggest concern.

I walked back downstairs and caught the last few minutes of Power rangers with Alex. "Hey Alex, can you go get dressed?" I asked him.

"Do I have to?" He asked.

"Yes. The grown ups need to talk for a minute." I said.

He huffed but did what I told him and went upstairs.

"So what's wrong with Fey?" Merrit asked

"She's too smart for her own good." I said.

Henley laughed. "Now who does that remind me of?"

"It's not funny Henley," She gave me an apologetic smile. "My sister is a prodigy, But she also has mild to severe ADD, ADHD and OCD." I sighed as I had to explain my sister's situation to my roommates. "Most of the time she's pretty good at controlling it, but she sometimes has problems controlling it. When she does she has to finish the project she's working on, she doesn't eat or sleep, nor does she want to until she's finished with what she's working on…."

"Is she on medication?" Henley asked.

"When she's in school she is, but at home and on weekends our mom used to let her go off of them. It was a compromise that they came to."

"You said she was a prodigy… in what?" Jack asked me.

"Mechanics and engineering." I said.

"That's why she needs the robo guts…" Alex said. "So she can make stuff. I don't know how, but Fey's really good at it."

"Welcome back." I said to my brother. "There is one other thing… she went to the junkyard to look for parts today..." I trailed off looking at Jack. He raised his eyebrows in a silent question or the point. "She hotwired your truck to get there."

"… She what?" He asked. I almost repeated myself, but then I saw the amused grin spreading over his face. "Huh, who would have thought." He started to laugh but then Alex poked him. "What's up?"

"Don't encourage Fey!" My brother scolded Jack earning an amused grin from Merritt. "I don't like it when she makes herself sick! So don't you go telling her it's okay!"

"Uh…" Jack seemed lost for words, "I… I'm sorry?"

"You should be!" Alex sat back down on the couch, arms crossed, but smiled at Jack to show he accepted the apology. "Hey Danny?"

"Yeah?" I asked him.

"When do I start school again?"

I felt myself stiffen at his question. I had completely forgotten about that aspect of childhood.

**Sorry this chapter took so long. I rewrote it four ties before I found a situation to explain Fey that I liked. You can probably guess what the next chapter or two are going to be about.**

**Thoughts on Fey?**

**~PtbK**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

**Jack POV:**

I had gotten up early on the day Alex was meant to start school. It was Henley's fault. She was having a field day with everything. I didn't get why she was so excited. It didn't seem like Fey did either.

"Coffee?" I asked her as she stumbled downstairs.

"You read my mind." She said taking it black.

"Since when do you drink coffee?" Daniel asked, trying, and failing, to put on a tie.

"Since I wound up in college at age fifteen." She said. "Since when do you not know how to button a shirt?"

"Huh?" Danny looked down and saw every button was off by two. "Jesus!" He grumbled, "Since I found out I have to take my baby brother to school and meet his teacher today! I want to make a good impression."

"For Christ sake calm down." Henley said coming over to our not so graceful leader and helping him get dressed.

"Like a baby and his mom." I whispered to Fey.

She smiled into her mug and sipped more coffee. "I'm going for old married couple."

Merritt shot me a look I didn't understand as he took over the eggs Henley had abandoned. Alex ran downstairs with his backpack bouncing up and down on his shoulders. "Come on! Let's go!" He said grabbing onto Danny's hand.

"Easy kid, we need to eat first." He said guiding his brother to the table as Henley fixed his tie for him.

Fey helped Merritt serve eggs to her brothers while he dished them out to me and Henley.

"DONE! Let's go!" Alex jumped up and ran out to the garage so he could go to the car.

Daniel shoveled in the last of his eggs and ran after him. Fey laughed as she watched her brothers leave the house.

"Can we go back to sleep now Henley?" I asked.

"Why should we? We're already up and we're low on groceries. "It's you and Merritt's turn anyway so get going."

"Henley, No offense, But you're insane." Merritt said.

"I can go… Uh… if someone else drives…" Fey said. We all gave her a questioning look. She hadn't left her room in about forty-eight hours, as Danny had warned us. "I need some tools from the Hardware store."

"Well then I will be glad to bow out from this trip Jack." Merritt said.

I grumbled in response but knew Henley would throw a fit if I didn't go. "Fine, what do we need?"

**XX :POV CHANGE: DANIEL: XX**

"We're going to be late!" Alex said pointing to the clock.

"Late? But we have an hour…" I told him.

"No! school starts at seven thirty! And it took way longer than an hour to get here from New York!"

"New York?" I asked him. "What are you talking about? You're going to school in town…"

"No," He said, "I go to Marion Harper Elementary school in New York!"

"Um…" _Shit…_ I had completely forgotten to explain to Alex that he was going to a different school now. "We had to change what school you go to buddy, so that you could still live with me and the others…"

"WHAT!?" Alex's eyes got wide, "You mean I'm not in Miss Thomas' class anymore!?"

"N- no…" I had a really bad feeling in my gut, like I'd killed a puppy or something. "But your new teacher is Mrs. Casey-Schwinn, She sounds really nice right?"

"Mrs? She's married! No that's bad! That means she's old! All the old teachers are mean and all the young teachers are nice! This is Terrible!" He threw his arms up in despair then crossed them and glared at me.

"Now hold on a second Alex, you can't make assumptions like that, I'm sure she's a very nice woman."

"How can you know that?" He asked, "There is no way for you to know that!"

"There's no way for you to know that she's mean either." I told him. "Just wait till after you meet her until you make your decision."

"Uhg Fine." He slumped back in his passenger seat and stared out the window.

**XX :POV CHANGE: FREYA: XX**

"I need a welding torch, twelve six-inch Bevel Gears, ten three-inch racks Racks, four nine-inch Racks, six seven-inch Involute spindles, four eight-inch sprockets and a new Philips head screwdriver." I handed the small hardware store's owner the list. He looked it over and Jack watched from the doorway.

"Well I have most of this, but I'd have to put in an order for the welding torch. Any particular kind you want?"

I shook my head. "You're recommendation, It just needs to be less than five square feet when stored and less than five hundred dollars."

The store owner seemed amused by my comment. "Well then, I'll need a name and phone number so I can call you when it's in."

"Cool… Um… Hey Jack, do you know what the house phone number is?"

"Yeah here." He came up next to me and wrote it down on the order sheet.

"You'll find the rest of what you need over there in isles six, and the screwdriver in ten."

"Thanks!"

After gathering the tools I needed and sticking them in the back of the truck I crawled into the passenger seat next to Jack.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Mm hm." He gave me an amused look that I don't think I was meant to see. "Something wrong?"

"Huh? No, why?"

"The look." I said, mimicking it.

"Oh it's nothing. I think you freaked out the old guy, that's all."

"Why so?" I asked. "I thought He liked me."

Jack smirked. "Because I've been in this town for six months and the only people I have seen in there are middle aged men doing home improvements, the mechanic's wife picking up parts, and a few teenage guys looking to fix skateboards and cause mischief. Then all of a sudden you wiz in there all business and smart words asking for a freaking blow torch. Didn't you see the look he gave you?"

"Well, I did, but when it comes to adults I don't always read them… kids my own age and younger too. I mean, I can read Alex and Danny, but they're my brothers. And I can read you because you're in the age group I've been around for the last few years. But I skipped so many grades and went to college so early that I didn't interact with adult teachers and kids my age ever so I'm stunted in those departments."

He seemed to think about my statement for a second before he grinned. "Don't worry about kids your own age. I got out of high school and never went to college so I know all about them. Your brothers, Henley, Merritt and I are much cooler than high-schoolers."

I laughed. "Yeah I'll take your word for it. Besides it's not like I'm going back to high school any time soon."

**XX :POV CHANGE: ALEX: XX**

My big brother lead me through the new school I was supposed to attend I was so nervous I couldn't believe it. I had a married teacher. I'd never had a married teacher before! When we found the classroom I was right, The teacher was an old lady.

"Hello, you must be Alexander and Daniel Atlas."

"Yes, It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am." He said. They shook hands and I stayed behind my brother.

"Alexander, I'll be your new teacher, Mrs. Casey-Schwinn."

"Are you a nice teacher?" I asked.

"Alex!" Danny was scolding me. Why? It was just a question!

"Well I think I am." She said. "I haven't been told otherwise." That didn't mean she wasn't.

"I'm so sorry, he's nervous." Danny said. "He's normally a really good kid."

"It's perfectly fine, don't worry about it." She looked at the door and motioned for someone to come in. "Alexander, this is Mathew Harrison, Mathew this is your new classmate, Alexander Atlas. Why don't you tell him about what we've been learning in class?"

"Ok Mrs. S." The new kid came over to me. He was skinnier than I was and taller than me, but not by much. And he had black hair and darker skin. "I'm Matt," He said to me. "Hey Mrs. S. can he sit next to Me, Sam, and Conner?"

"There is an open desk." She said. "Go ahead and show him while I talk to his brother."

"Come with me!" Matt pulled my hand and lead me over to a desk at the edge of the classroom. "So you'll sit there." He pointed to a desk. "Next to Conner. And Sam sits behind him. And I sit in front of you!"

He went on to tell me about all the things we were learning about. I looked at Danny and he was watching me.

**XX: POV CHANGE: DANNY: XX**

Alex was a little freaked out. But it looked like the Kid he was talking to was nice enough. Before I left I ran over to say goodbye to him. "Bye Alex, I'll be at the gate to pick you up later."

"Bye Danny." He said softly. I could tell he was still nervous.

The drive home almost felt too quiet. I'd grown so used to the amount of noise that Freya, and Alex had added to the noise that Henley, Jack and Merritt already caused. I got back at the same time Jack and my sister did.

At least she wasn't running around on her own again. I helped them with the groceries and we walked in to see Henley on the phone. "Oh… Hang on sir… yes… she just walked in… okay… Frey, one of your professors is on the phone."

"Which one?"

"Benton?" Henley said.

"Hi Professor Benton… What...? Kim has been recording your lectures and sending them to me… But my grades are up… It's been what!? Why!? They can do that!? I have to WHAT!"

"Fey what's wrong?" I asked.

"My high school revoked my Diploma!" She yelled.

"They can do that?" Jack asked.

"Only with a good reason." Merritt said coming downstairs.

"They said it was because I never competed my driver's education requirement, and a New York education law that just passed makes my graduation null and void!"

"What? Why didn't you finish Drivers ed?"

"I was fourteen when I graduated! I wasn't able to do drivers ed, so they granted me an exception, but according to the new law they can't do that! So everyone had to take it who had graduated without it in six months! But nobody bothered to tell me! So now my Diploma's been revoked!"

"So that means…"

I finished Henley's sentence, almost laughing, "Fey's going back to high school."

**I'm so sorry this took so long, took a while before I found a format I liked for this chapter. It was actually 2 separate ones but I felt like I owed you all so I combined them to post together. **

**Thoughts?**

**~PtbK**


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